Having a roll call of students from different faiths is “an absolute honour and a privilege”, according to Kate Baum, headteacher of Mosaic Jewish Primary School in south London.
Since its inception in 2013, the cross-communal free school – which offers 50 per cent of its places to children of all backgrounds – has been given top ratings by Ofsted and Pikuach, and is praised for its Jewish ethos and education.
“We are unashamedly Jewish; that is clearly evident from the minute you walk into the school,” Ms Baum said. “We are absolutely driven to ensure that our children have knowledge and respect for practices across the Jewish faith.”
Likewise, for Wohl Ilford Jewish Primary School (WIJPS) deputy head Lisa West, a mixed intake “has only been a positive thing”.
While the Essex junior school is not a free school, but a voluntary-aided primary under the auspices of the United Synagogue, a declining Jewish population in the area led to the intake of non-Jewish pupils. It is now made up of 81 per cent Jewish and 19 per cent non-Jewish children.
But, Ms West stressed, its ethos and religious underpinning remained unchanged.
“If a parent chooses to send their child here, they are sending them on the understanding that they are coming into a Jewish school,” she said. “We daven, we say tefillot, we do benching, we say grace after meals, all our boys wear kippot, whatever their religion.
“Having a mixed intake has not in any way dampened our ethos. We are as loud and proud as we ever were.”
Steve Langford, headteacher of King David Primary School in Birmingham, said the same rules applied in his school, despite only 25 per cent of his students being Jewish; 70 per cent are Muslim, while the remainder are made up of a range of faiths and non-faiths.
“We are very upfront about the fact that this is a Jewish school,” he said. “Families are very clear that this is what they are buying into. The parents do not choose this school despite it being Jewish, but because of it – they value the Jewish aspects.”
Mr Langford explained that Muslim families in particular, who make up the majority of the school’s intake, welcome a Jewish education. He said: “They value the fact that it is Kosher, which also makes it Halal. They would rather send them here than a secular school, where RE is just going to be taught as another subject, rather than a way of life.”
For all educators, their schools have only benefited from welcoming pupils of all backgrounds; they rubbished claims that a free school system would dilute a Jewish school’s cultural ethos.
Ms West said: “It hasn’t in any way detracted from how proud we are of being a Jewish school, but we have all the benefits of children being tolerant towards each other, understanding each other’s religions, growing up together and seeing that we are all the same, even though our festivals and holy books have different names.”
She added that non-Jewish families were respectful of the school’s ethos, and that it was almost impossible to discern the Jews from the non-Jews in class, given the enthusiasm of all pupils to learn and observe rituals and practices.
“We are who we are, and everybody jumps on board of that,” she said. “We even have some children who come from a Seventh-Day Adventist background, and theydaven louder than anyone else, because that is part of their culture.
Mr Langford agreed, arguing that – although he wished they could welcome more Jewish children into the school – he was pleased to have a mixed intake of cultures.
“Monocultural schools don’t prepare children for a modern society,” he said. “You cannot understand other cultures through books; you need to know people from other backgrounds.
“We have seen this succeed. Parents should embrace the fact that their children will get a strong Jewish education, but will also be prepared for life in the modern world.”
